A closed face spinning reel of the character considered herein is mounted below a fishing rod at the butt of the handle. A typical reel has a body with an axially movable shaft on which a spinner head is mounted. The shaft is biased rearwardly in the reel body to a line winding position. A finger brake lever actuated by the fisherman moves the shaft and spinner head forward to casting and brake positions. Copending Miller U.S. application Ser. No. 112,912 filed Jan. 17, 1980, shows a reel with a twisted finger brake that projects forwardly adjacent the rod handle for actuation by the fisherman. The twisted finger brake is pivoted to the reel body and is free to move with respect to the body and to the axial shaft. Special guide structure is provided to maintain alignment of the operating leg of the lever with the end of the shaft. The lever is free to move when it is not actuated by the fisherman. The operating handle is not in a uniform or fixed position with respect to the rod and the fisherman cannot reliably grip and operate it. The lever rattles which may be disturbing to the fisherman.
The reel of the present application is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.